This invention relates to delivery systems suitable for transferring a sterile solution from a container to a receptacle.
Craig, U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,528, describes an aerosol can having a delivery tube which engages the actuator orifice. A cap is provided to cover the actuator orifice and part of the delivery tube. Other aerosol cans having delivery tubes are described by Stephenson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,188, Eberhardt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,224, Beres et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,305,144, and Haber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,974.
A variety of caps have been described which prevent inadvertent activation of the actuator of an aerosol can. For example, Vitale, U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,315, Jordan, U.S. Pat. No. 2,775,372, Doyle, U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,295, Frankenberg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,958, Suellentrop, U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,451, Wassilieff, U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,519, Patton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,922, and Cochran, U.S. Pat. No. 2,961,128.
Sterile solutions are commonly handled in many types of laboratories. For example, tissue culture fluids and microbiological cell culture solutions are transferred from sterile glass containers to Petri dishes and used to culture either mammalian or bacterial cells. The process of transfer generally entails removing a cap from the glass bottle, removing the lid of the Petri dish, pipetting or pouring the tissue culture fluid from the container to the Petri dish, replacing the lid of the Petri dish and then replacing the lid of the container.